Spike-puller.



1). 'SMITH. SPIKE FULLER.

APPLICATION TILED JAN. 14, 1909.

944,920, v Patentd Dec.28,19 09.

DREW SMITH, OF KELLERMAN, ALABAMA.

SPIKE-FULLER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 28, 1909.

Application filed January 14, 1909. Serial No. 472,386.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, DREW SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residingat Kellerman, in the county of Tuscaloosa and State of Alabama, haveinvented new and useful Improvements in Spike-Pullers, of which thefollowing is a specification.

This invention relates to spike pullers, the object of the inventionbeing to produce a spike puller especially adapted for drawing thespikes at rail joints and designed with special reference to repair workin tunnels, mines and on trestles, the improved spike puller embodyinginner and outer shanks provided at their ends with inner and outer clawsrespectively, the device being adapted to straddle a rail and to fulcrumat the opposite side of the rail from that side on which the spike isbeing drawn.

With the above general object in view, the invention consists in thenovel construc tion, combination and arrangement of parts as hereinfully described, illustrated, and claimed.

In the accompanyin drawings :Figure l is a side elevation of a spikepuller constructed in accordance with the present invention. Fig. 2 is ahorizontal section through the lower portion thereof taken on the line2-2 of Fig. l.

The spike puller of this invention comprises essentially a main innershank 1 pro-- vided with a handle or lever 2, and an outer shank 3 whichextends at an angle to the inner shank 1 and diverges downwardlytherefrom as shown in Fig. 1. The shanks 1 and 3 are rigidly connectedat their point of intersection so that the feet containing theextracting claws always maintain the same relative positions.

The inner shank is provided at its lower extremity with an inner claw 4;while the outer shank is provided with an outer claw 5, the claws l and5 being pointed at their inner ends which face each other as shown inFig. 1. While the inner claw has a spike-receiving space 6 which isV-shaped and counter-sunk as shown in Fig. 2, the outer claw 5 has thecentral spike-receiving space 7 eX- tended entirely through the claw. Inother words, the outer claw 5 is bifurcated all the way through and theinner portion of said claw are provided with upstanding lugs 8 tocooperate with the head of the spike.

In use, the spike puller is placed astride the rail with the inner clawengaging the spike at the inner side of the rail and the outer clawengaging the spike at the outer side of the rail. The operator thenplaces one hand at the upper end of the handle 2 and the other hand at apoint lower down; he then moves the device back and forth so that bothof the spike heads may be engaged by the claws 4 and 5, the centralspace 7 in the foot containing the claws 5 admitting of such back andforth movement until both of the spikes have been engaged by the claws.The operator then moves the handle of the device" back and forth, firstdrawing the spike at one side of the rail and then drawing the spike atthe opposite side of the rail. In this way, both spikes may be withdrawnwithout removing the device as a whole from its position astride therail and without causing the operator to shift his position, theoperator standing between the rails of the track while operating thedevice in the manner described.

I claim A device for drawing spikes embodying a main inner shank, anouter rigid shank extending at an angle thereto and adapted to straddlea railroad rail and having feet with claws at the lower ends of saidshanks, said claws facing toward each other and being adapted to operatein the same horizontal plane to extract alternately the spikes atopposite sides of the rail, the inner foot embodying a V-shapedspike-receiving space and the outer foot being divided throughout itslength and adapted to receive the spike between the divided portionsthereof, whereby the spikes on both sides of the rail may be withdrawnwithout removing the device from is position astride the rail.

In testimony whereof I afliX my signature in presence of two witnesses.

his DREW SMITH.

mark Witnesses:

C. R. Srown, J. M. DENTON.

